acortavsacortarConfusable pair

Which to use

“acorta” and “acortar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,903
“acorta” frequency rank
#26,683
“acortar” frequency rank
73586
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acorta acortar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acortar o de acortarse. Hacer más corto. Disminuir en longitud, extensión, duración, tiempo o cantidad.

Where the eye mixes acorta and acortar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. acorta runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against acortar's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
acorta
7 ch
acortar

Look-alike desk: acorta vs acortar

A purely visual mix-up. acorta ([aˈkoɾt̪a]) and acortar ([akoɾˈt̪aɾ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “acorta” sits inside “acortar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73586, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acorta is recorded at frequency rank #46,903, classified as averb, pronounced [aˈkoɾt̪a]. acortar is at rank #26,683, tagged as averb, pronounced [akoɾˈt̪aɾ].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 73586, this pair ranks #23,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acorta vs acortar

Shared letters: acort. Private to "acorta": -. Private to "acortar": -.

"acorta" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "acortar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acorta ← accorta · acorat · acorrta · acortta · acrota · aocrta · caorta
  • acortar ← accortar · acoratr · acorrtar · acortarr · acortra · acorttar · acotrar · acrotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "acorta" and "acortar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈkoɾt̪a] versus [akoɾˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "acorta" or "acortar"?
"acortar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,683 in our Spanish list, against #46,903 for "acorta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "acorta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acortar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acorta" and "acortar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acorta vs Alcorta". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #23,013 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list